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Earth Day is April 22!

Wednesday

 

Green Burial Panel

 

Wednesday, April 22nd at 6 PM
Belmont Media Center
This event is free and open to the public.


We are pleased to share this upcoming event, as it has long been requested by interested residents. The Belmont Health Collaborative will host a panel discussion of 4 professionals in the field of green burials: Judith Lorei, a natural burial advocate and co-chair of the Green Burial Committee in western MA Heather Massey, a Home Funeral Guild, educator and board member of the National Home Funeral AllianceRuth Faas, who offers biodegradable caskets and support at Mourning Dove Studio; and Raya Gildor, who heads the eastern Mass chapter of the Funeral Consumers Alliance (617-859-7990). The Funeral Consumers Alliance (FCA) is a national nonprofit organization that protects consumers' rights to choose meaningful, dignified, affordable funerals.
 

Earth Day Event: The Lima Climate Discussions of December 2014


Wednesday, April 22 at 7:30 PM  
Parish Hall at The First Church in Belmont, 404 Concord Ave.
Free and Open to the Public


Monte Allen, senior development director of CARE and an official observer of COP20 Lima 2014, offers the rare chance for an inside look at meetings that could impact our future. The Lima talks were an opportunity for nations to negotiate and shape their contributions to carbon reduction before making firm commitments at the upcoming climate follow-up in Paris. In addition, the perspectives of several important voices will be shared through videos. Finally he will discuss the broad outcomes of COP20 and his hopefulness about the process moving forward. An opportunity for questions follows. Co-sponsored by The First Church in Belmont Adult RE and FCBGreen Committees.

Tony Alcorn will provide an opening on carbon calculation. You can download the carbon calculator from our website and here.

 

Upcoming


Talk: Belmont's Renewable Energy Policy Doesn't Do Nearly Enough


Sustainable Belmont Meeting
Wednesday, April 29th at 7 PM
Assembly Room, Belmont Public Library


Mark Robbins examines Belmont's current policies on renewable energy and compares how Belmont lags far behind the rest of Massachusetts in its support of renewable energy.  He'll review the various ways our policies could be changed to really make a difference in terms of climate change action.  Along the way, attendees will find out the answer to the following riddles:  Why is energy from a renewable resource not necessarily renewable energy?  What is actually the largest cross-subsidy that arises from our current energy policy?  And finally, mysteriously, why does 29=0 sometimes?

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Go Green!


EPA News You Can Use: http://www.epa.gov/gogreen
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Special Thanks


Thank you to Carolyn Dann, Mary Beth Calnan, Jay Marcotte and all of you who joined us at the Recycling Q&A on April 1st, and to those of you who wrote in with questions. Much information may be found on our Town's website under the DPW heading, as well, our Recycling Recap series from last year can be found on our own site. We will post this year's recap in our May newsletter.
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National Bike Month


May is National Bike Month and includes an ever-expanding diversity of events in communities nationwide:
Mass Bike to School Day is May 6
Bike to Work Week is May 11-15
Bike to Work Day is May 15
Mother's Day: CycloFemme!
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Electric Utility Policy Lecture


The recent interview with guest expert, Karl Rabago (Pace Law), interviewed by Roger Wrubel (Audubon Habitat Center) can be seen at the Belmont Media Center's website: http:// http://www.belmontmedia.org/watch/belmont-solar-policy-discussion-3-2-15


Carbon Farming: What is it? How do we do it? How does it relate to storm water?

 

Belmont Storm Water Working Group Meeting
Thursday, April 23rd at 7 PM
Assembly Room, Belmont Memorial Library



We are excited that Brian Cartwright of the Lexington-based organization BioDiversity for a Livable Planet Brian will speak about methods for improving the ability of degraded urban soil to sequester carbon and retain water. He is interested in sharing ideas about water, biology and urban landscapes.  He describes "bio4climate" as a group of climate activists trying to change the public conversation about climate by including biology in the discussion.  They are organizing an all-day conference at Harvard (see below) on May 3rd.  From cover crops to compost and meadow conversion, there are a number of actions which might help Belmont improve storm water retention before it gets into town pipes and rivers and streams. Brian is a Belmont High School graduate (class of 1969).
 

Urban and Suburban Carbon Farming to Reverse Global Warming


Sunday, May 3rd from  9 – 5 PM
Harvard Science Center at 
1 Oxford St., Cambridge


Come spend the day with fellow climate activists, gardeners, scientists, educators, students, homeowners, and visionary community leaders. Learn how soil restoration is key to reversing climate change and about the contributions urban and suburban dwellers can make. 

Register at bio4climate.org/cambridge
Conference fee is $50, sliding scale. Volunteer opportunities are available.
Sponsored by Green Cambridge and the Climate Action Business Association
 
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Lone Tree Hill Volunteer Day



Saturday, May 9, 9 am–1 pm, rain or shine!
Meet at green & white BCF tent on South Pleasant St. Park at Star Market lot at Pleasant Street end
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Carbon Calculators


Sustainable Belmont's Carbon Calculator developed by Tony Alcorn
Simplified Visual Carbon Calculator
On-line Carbon Calculator (allows exact data entry)
Helping Belmont to be an environmentally responsible community

Sustainable Belmont is an all-volunteer organization, originally formed as a task force by Belmont's Vision 21 Implementation Committee. We hold regular discussions, workshops and presentations to enable the community to be environmentally sustainable. Meetings and events are open to the public. You can reach Sustainable Belmont members by email: sustainablebelmont@gmail.com

Kind regards from,  Kate Bowen (Chair); Darrell King (Vice Chair) and John Kolterman (Adviser)

Copyright © 2015 Sustainable Belmont, All rights reserved.


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